Gavin Guffey was 17 when he was targeted by a ‘sextortionist’ on Instagram. His father Brandon has spent four years fighting for justice, and for social media companies to do more to safeguard young users

What were the last words Brandon Guffey said to his son Gavin? Four years on, he still struggles with this question. “That last exchange, it bothers me constantly,” he says. “I think I said, ‘Goodnight, buddy. I love you,’ and he said, ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’ I sincerely hope that’s what I said. The truth is, I’ll never know for certain.”

The exchange happened in 2022, on a hot July in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where, just weeks before, Guffey had won the Republican ticket to stand for the state’s House of Representatives. The election was three months away, Guffey’s head was buzzing with politics, and he’d spent that evening at a local event.

I had worked for 25 years, married and started a family. But a crisis at the supermarket reminded me there was something missing from my life

In 2021, at 42 years old, I had the reading age of a four-year-old. I had spent my life up to that point not being able to read and write, navigating the world with careful planning and the help of my wife. During the Covid lockdowns, however, the world turned upside down and my usual way of going through life exploded. My wife was home-schooling our 10-year-old son and I was ashamed to not be able to help; my usual work as a lorry driver was put on hold, and even simple tasks like shopping had become incredibly difficult.

I became overwhelmed one day in the supermarket aisles trying to find a milk that my wife and son could drink, since they are both allergic to dairy and soy. I worried I might poison them. It hit me that the way I had been living my life previously could not continue.

Tom Watson has said ‘mob rule’ must not decide public contracts. Perhaps he should take a look at his new employer

What a world we live in. Imagine: gangs dragging civil servants off commuter trains and beating them up because they handed government data jobs to the wrong contractor – and the government is changing its procurement decisions as a result. Well, OK, it might not have happened yet, but it’s only a matter of time. As the former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson asks: “Do you want to let the rule of law lead procurement practice, or do you want mob rule to lead procurement practices?” No, I absolutely don’t want the latter, and it’s always good to get ahead of trouble.

But then I remember there are two common meanings of mob rule. One is intimidation by crowds of thugs. The other is a pejorative term for democracy. And while I’ve yet to see government procurement practices in the UK determined by pitchforks and flaming torches, democratic transparency could be a genuine threat to certain contractors. One might have hoped that Watson, who once took on the Murdoch empire, would have recognised the distinction. But then again, one might have hoped that Watson would not have taken a job as a senior vice-president at Palantir.

Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp paid £10k at auction for Epstein’s address book. He then used it to co-author a thrilling account of the swinging 60s – and an intimate portrait of a tormented man whose life was unravelling

The email from Sotheby’s might easily have gone unread. Despite his deep appreciation for the musical heroes who came before him, Gary Kemp is not a collector of rock memorabilia. But there, among the auction lots, was something that caught his eye: a 160x100mm black Twinlock binder that once belonged to the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein.

The listing detailed 57 pages containing 404 entries, many handwritten by Epstein himself, cataloguing the social and business network of the Liverpudlian impresario in 1967, the year of his death. Kemp immediately recognised this was much more than simply an address book: it was a who’s who of 60s London at its swinging peak, from David Bailey and David Frost to most of the Rolling Stones. “I just thought, ‘I’ve got to have this. I’ve got to hold it,’” he says. “It’s got DNA on it.”

Drawing on dozens of interviews with intelligence and police officers across two continents, a Guardian investigation reveals the murderous cost of our insatiable appetite for cocaine

Read more: Latin American organised crime ‘may operate in 16 European countries’
Explainer: What is state capture and why does it matter?

As abductions go, few have been more brazen. Alan Jalloh was with two friends outside Goodies supermarket, frantic as usual with late afternoon shoppers. Rush hour in downtown Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, was under way with familiar gusto.

A black Toyota Rav4 forced its way through the Peninsula highway traffic. Witnesses describe burly white men leaping out, yanking on balaclavas. Jalloh, 40, seemed to freeze. As did his two friends, one a famous Freetown footballer. All three were dragged into the waiting SUV. None of them have been seen since.

From finding draughts to buying a thermal leak detector – there are simple, cost-effective ways to start sorting heat loss

• How to storm-proof your home, from roof tiles to garden fences

Pick a day when there is a good breeze, and heat the house to its usual temperature. Then wander around with a candle or smoke pen (about £20). Alternatively, buy a thermal leak detector. This flashes blue for cold, green for normal and red for warm.

Exclusive: Business secretary says he will not change trade rules due to EU pressure and denies UK will become a ‘back door’ for cheap imports

The business secretary has hit back at European demands for British tariffs on Chinese imports, saying the government will not change its trade rules because of pressure from Brussels.

Jonathan Reynolds warned that the government would not bow to calls from other countries for the UK to hit Chinese vehicles with import taxes, despite political pressure to align with the EU in exchange for deeper future economic ties.

Russell Brand back in Southwark crown court today where his rape and sexual assault trial begins

The prosecution cited remarks made by Brand’s friends during the early years of his career, including one who described the comedian as someone who “was rampant in his desire to have sex”.

Another friend, speaking about Brand before he found fame, described him as “very impulsive. His impulsivity led him to be very single-minded, and women and sex were a goal and an obsession”, Karmy-Jones told the court.

Some of the women involved protested and said no, others had no opportunity to react to his advances but it mattered not to the defendant.

Regardless of who they were and what they said or did, Russell Brand was not deterred.

Nigel Farage says Kemi Badenoch misinterpreted his suggestion for a deal with Donald Trump

Here are more comments from Kemi Badenoch on what Nigel Farage told a US podcast about wanting to make an offer to President Trump in relation to the Chagos Islands. (See 9.56am.)

It is mad for someone who wants to be prime minister to say we should give away one piece of British territory just to stop an American President talking about another …

Nigel Farage has made such a huge fuss about defending the Chagos Islands. He calls this making a deal. Giving away British territory in return for someone keeping quiet is not a deal. It is humiliating.

Outage of terminals managed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX comes as Russia launches ballistic missiles at Ukraine without any advance warning from US

Ukrainian soldiers in combat have suddenly had their access to Starlink satellite internet terminals restricted as the Trump administration has increased pressure on Ukraine to halt long-range strikes on Russia’s oil industry immediately.

The terminals, which are distributed and managed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, are a key component of Ukraine’s military operations and the sudden restrictions on the high-speed terminals on Tuesday evening led to the failure of several combat missions, said an adviser on military technology to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.